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In aspiring to create a quantum theory of gravitation, Wheeler favored
treating the alternative solutions in general relativity as constituents of an
effervescent “geometric foam” that emerges at extremely high energies.
Somehow, out of that foam, our simple cosmology emerged as the optimum
path through the abstract space of parameters—which, according to
Feynman’s “sum over histories” approach, represents the “classical”
(Newtonian physics) limit. Wheeler’s notion sounded fascinating, but never
got very far, because of the experimental impossibility of reaching such
high energies coupled with the formidable mathematical challenges of
constructing viable quantum representations of general relativity (the kinds
of difficulties that ultimately drove many theorists to string theory).
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Characterizing the relationship between a “multiverse” and the human
experience long predates its contemporary scientific meaning. American
philosopher and psychologist William James coined the term in 1895, in an
essay on optimism and pessimism, “Is Life Worth Living?” In his sense of
the word, a “moral multiverse” means a universe that is neither good, nor
evil, but, rather, ambivalent to virtue and vice. As he wrote:
Truly, all we know of good and duty proceeds from nature; but none
the less so all we know of evil. Visible nature is all plasticity and
indifference—a moral multiverse, as one might call it, and not a
moral universe.
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